My semester in Dakar

sacré yalla

The sacré yalla is the Wolof name for the gap that some people have between their two front teeth. In African culture, this gap is extremely beautiful. Aunty Marilyn, a missionary friend who has spent 44 years in Senegal and who now lives in Thiès, tells me of how she encountered a Senegalese man on a plane once who had the sacré yalla.

He wanted to get it cosmetically fixed, and I said, But it’s beautiful in African culture! But he said, it’s not beautiful in Western culture, and I live and work in America now. He was torn between two worlds!

When I get home, I notice that my sister Rama in fact has the sacré yalla.